Srila Prabhupada…”People do not understand that they are actually sleeping in this material world, being devoid of knowledge of spiritual life. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore says:
enechi aushadhi maya nasibara lagi’
hari-nama-maha-mantra lao tumi magi’
“I have brought medicine to awaken every living being from perpetual sleep. Please receive the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and awaken.”
Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 5: The Creative Impetus
Chapter 13 – ‘Further Talks Between King Rahugana and Jada Bharata’
Text 9
kvacin nigīrṇo ‘jagarāhinā jano
nāvaiti kiñcid vipine ‘paviddhaḥ
daṣṭaḥ sma śete kva ca danda-śūkair
andho ‘ndha-kūpe patitas tamisre
kvacit—sometimes;nigīrṇaḥ—being swallowed;ajagara-ahinā—by the great snake known as the python;janaḥ—the conditioned soul;na—not;avaiti—understands;kiñcit—anything;vipine—in the forest;apaviddhaḥ—pierced by arrows of suffering;daṣṭaḥ—being bitten;sma—indeed;śete—lies down;kva ca—sometimes;danda-śūkaiḥ—by other kinds of snakes;andhaḥ—blind;andha-kūpe—in a blind well;patitaḥ—fallen;tamisre—in a hellish condition of life.
The conditioned soul in the material forest is sometimes swallowed by a python or crushed. At such a time he is left lying in the forest like a dead person, devoid of consciousness and knowledge. Sometimes other poisonous snakes bite him. Being blind to his consciousness, he falls down into a dark well of hellish life with no hope of being rescued.
Purport
When one becomes unconscious due to being bitten by a snake, one cannot understand what is taking place outside the body. This unconscious condition is the condition of deep sleep. Similarly, the conditioned soul is actually sleeping on the lap of the illusory energy. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has sung, kota nidra yao maya-pisacira kole: “O living entity, how long will you sleep in this condition on the lap of the illusory energy?” People do not understand that they are actually sleeping in this material world, being devoid of knowledge of spiritual life. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore says:
enechi aushadhi maya nasibara lagi’
hari-nama-maha-mantra lao tumi magi’
“I have brought medicine to awaken every living being from perpetual sleep. Please receive the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and awaken.” The Katha Upanishad (1.3.14) also says, uttishtha jagrata prapya varan nibodhata: “O living entity, you are sleeping in this material world. Please get up and take advantage of your human form of life.” The sleeping condition means loss of all knowledge. In Bhagavad-gita (2.69) it is also said, ya nisa sarva-bhutanam tasyam jagarti samyami: “What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled.” Even in the higher planets, everyone is under the spell of the illusory energy. No one is really interested in the real values of life. The sleeping condition, called kala-sarpa (the time factor), keeps the conditioned soul in a state of ignorance, and therefore pure consciousness is lost. In the forest there are many blind wells, and if one falls down in one there is no chance of being rescued. In a state of sleep, one remains perpetually bitten by some animals, especially snakes.
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
